Thyatira: A Church That Tolerated Evil | Revelation 2:18-29 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series)

Of all the churches that Jesus addressed in the Book of

Revelation, what we are about to read and study together at this

time is the longest letter. Simply put, Jesus Christ has

more to say to this assembly than any other, and that should

prompt us to carefully consider what was taking place in

Thyatira that demanded such an extended message.

If there was one word to summarize what was taking place

that caused the Lord Jesus to offer this detailed

confrontation, it is this toleration.

Toleration, and I say that because that is the very word we

will see, at least in the ESV, that serves as a turning point

in the scathing report. And I want us to consider what

toleration means, having a proper definition before we

explore this letter. To tolerate involves any idea or

activity or person that is allowed or accepted when in fact

it is disapproved of. It is something that is

disagreed upon, and in this case you had an entire, well at least

a majority of the church that was tolerating something, More

specifically tolerating someone that Christ himself did not

approve of. And the reality of the matter

is, there are many behaviors that are taking place in the

church at large that Christ expects His people to lovingly

confront, but that is not always true.

If there is a main take away from this letter, it is that

tolerance is a recurring temptation for the church in

every age, and it is something that the individual Christian

and the church as a whole must be ready to resist for the sake

of Christ honor. There is that and many other

things that we are going to learn as we now begin to read in

Revelation chapter 2, starting in verse 18.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

Again, this is the longest letter, but we're going to read

it in one sitting even now before we dissect it.

Revelation 2, verse 18. And to the Angel, the church in

Revelation 2:18

Thyatira, right, The words of the Son of God, who has eyes

like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient

endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.

But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman

Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and

seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat

food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but

she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

Behold, I will throw her onto a sick bed, and those who commit

adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless

they repent of her works. And I will strike her children

dead. And all the churches will know

that I am he who searches mind and heart.

And I will give to each of you according to your works.

But to the rest of you and thy Tyra, who do not hold this

teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things

of Satan, to you I say, do not lay on you any other burden,

only hold fast what you have until I come, the one who

conquers and who keeps my works until the end.

To him I will give authority over the nations, and he will

rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in

pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my

father, and I will give him the morning star.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the

churches. Father, we ask that you give us

ears to hear. We pray that you would destroy

all distraction, any obstacle in our hearts and our minds that

would interfere with what You want to say.

We believe that you have a word for this church and we want to

hear it with clarity and precision and power.

In Jesus name we ask these things.

Amen. It's clear from the introduction

alone that this letter is not going to be an encouraging 1.

What we see here just from the beginning that this is a serious

warning. And how do we know that?

Because the characteristics that Christ chooses to apply to

himself, the ones that He highlights, are associated with

judgement. You can almost translate the

first verse in the following way.

Before I say anything else to you, O people of Thyatira, my

people, I want to remind you of my authority.

That's why he says I am the Son of God.

And why that's important to say from the outset is because he

wants to inform this people that it doesn't matter who is saying

what in your church. It doesn't matter how many of

you approve of what is being taught in my church.

I am the one in charge of my church.

I'm the one that determines who does what and what is said.

I am the Son of God. Here's my authority.

And from his authority now he reacquaints them with his

abilities. What does he say?

He describes himself as the one who has eyes like a flame of

fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

Just in case you would reject my authority, let me tell you the

consequences of such a thing. My perception is perfect.

My discernment and my assessment is something that will warrant

judgment, because I am never wrong.

I see everything, I know everything, and I want to let

you know that if you deny my authority, you will have to face

my discipline. My eyes are like a flame of

fire, and my feet are ready to go to work and to trample on all

disobedience. Now, this is something for us to

consider because Jesus Christ is holy.

You're going to read some things and you're going to study some

things with me that may sound like it's Old Testament.

Now this is New Testament. This is the newest of the New

Testament. You can't get any more new than

this. We're the last book of the New

Testament. So you have some people who say,

you know, I'm more comfortable with the God of the New

Testament, the God of the Old Testament.

Let me shock you. He's the same God.

You can't make that distinction. And people who talk like that,

I'm afraid, have not read or studied the Book of Revelation.

But before Christ underscores any error in this church, He

wants to, He wants to point out some of the attributes that he

admires. And that's in one verse.

Here in verse 19. What does he say?

Well, there are 4 distinct characteristics that he

mentions. The first thing apart from the

general works is their love. I see your love.

More than that, I see your faith and even beyond that, I see your

service. I see your patient endurance.

I mean, if you heard about a church that was loving, that had

faith, that was serving, that was enduring patiently, you

would say give that church an A. Christ has a different grading

system. I don't think it's necessary for

us to look at these things separately.

What I do want to mention is the last part of this comment.

Notice what he says and that your latter works exceed the

first. So it's not so much that this

church was possessing these wonderful attitudes and these

actions. What Christ says is that they

were growing and excelling in them.

That over time I see that you're maturing in these areas, that is

becoming more fruitful and fragrant in your assembly.

I love this. I, I, I praise this, I commend

this. And here's what moved me about

this. It shows you an eye, the type of

growth that Jesus Christ celebrates in his church.

You know, you talk to ministers today and they love to speak

about numerical growth. We have more people attending

our services. Well, that could be good.

It could also be bad. And then you have others who

take pride in the increased giving.

Every member's meeting, you know, the ones that you have,

maybe once or twice a year, we'll look at our report.

We're having more people give, and that also can be a good

thing. But do you know what Christ

primarily praises the incremental transformation of

his people. That's the kind of growth that

Jesus Christ celebrates. It's not so much the size of the

congregation, it's the quality of its members.

And so he looks at, he doesn't mention how many are there.

He doesn't mention anything. The thing that he highlights is

you individually are growing in your love, your faith, your

service, and your patient endurance.

Here's that applies to US. Number one, does our

understanding of success in ministry align with the Lord's?

Do we celebrate what he celebrates?

Do we focus our investments on what Christ wants us to focus

on? Again, for many people, it's

let's fill as many seats as possible.

Our concern should be who's sitting in those seats and what

are they becoming and what do their lives look like once they

finish warming those seats for an hour and a half on a Sunday?

This is what the Lord is inviting us to, which invites

us, I think. Let's say, for example, every

church anniversary we celebrate in November, do we not?

I was reflecting a thought. We should be able to look back

and say that people at Maranatha Bible Church are more loving

than they were last year. We have more people serving than

ever before. Look what's happening to the

members at MVC. They are able, with greater

wisdom and greater patience, handle internal and external

conflicts, patient endurance. And I pray that that would be

the trajectory of this church. We will not decrease in our

affection, that we will not weaken in our acts of service,

but increase as time goes on. Unfortunately, that's all the

good Jesus had to say for this church for the rest of this

letter. Now he is going to bring up a

serious concern. There is going to be an issue

that he is going to target without reservation.

His main issues with a woman, her name is Jezebel.

Or is it? It's very unlikely that this

woman's name in this church was actually Jezebel because of the

history of that name, because of the scandal associated with that

name. It would be like anybody naming

their son Judas. Very unlikely.

So what we have here is a symbolic label that Christ

places on this individual because like Jezebel in the Old

Testament, this prophetess was an agent of Satan and Satan was

using her in this assembly to lure the people of God away from

the truth. And so she has Jezebel like

qualities. You can imagine the shock on her

face when this letter was read and she heard Jezebel and the

rest of the church for that matter.

There are three problems that the Lord highlights about this

woman. Let's look at them again.

The 1st is here in verse 20. Who calls herself a prophetess?

You have to read carefully. The issue here is not the

practice of prophecy itself. We see examples of even woman

prophets in the New Testament. Rather this individual is a self

appointed prophet. It's as though Christ is saying

I I did not Commission this woman.

She does not have my endorsement.

She's a self-proclaimed messenger, and this woman had

the boldness to walk into this church, build trust and fellow

members and telling them, did you know that I'm a prophetess?

I hear from God all the time, regularly actually.

In fact, I have such a close and unique relationship with the

Lord that I have been given access to unique insight and

revelation. And Jesus says she calls herself

that. She's not one of mine.

Church. Be careful of people who call

themselves prophets, especially online.

Can I tell you something? A person whom the Lord truly

uses doesn't need to advertise themselves.

They don't. God is really using somebody

speaking through somebody. One, it's going to align with

His Word, and two, you will, if you have even a hint of

discernment, recognize this individual is a real thing.

This person is a faithful messenger of God's Word.

So be careful. More and more are we seeing

people freely calling themselves different things, including

prophets and prophetesses, when in fact they hire themselves.

They're not of Christ, even though they speak in His name.

The second thing that is a troubling feature is how this

woman was teaching. Look again at verse 20.

But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman

Jezebel, who one, calls herself a prophetess, and two, is

teaching. Again, read carefully.

The problem highlighted here is not what she is teaching.

That's going to be brought up next.

The point of contention is who is teaching?

You see, the church in Thyatira was violating the clear biblical

instruction and mandate that women are not to serve as

preachers or teachers in the General Assembly of the church.

It cannot be any more plain than the words of the Apostle Paul in

First Timothy 212 when he says, I do not permit a woman to teach

or to exercise authority over a man.

Rather she is to remain quiet. That doesn't mean that when she

comes to church she's supposed to be mute.

It means that in the context of preaching and teaching the

worship time of the church, she is not to do what men alone are

called to do, and that is to instruct the people of God with

the Word of God. It's very possible that this is

the first time that some of you heard me quote this verse or

heard this was quoted at all in such a plain manner.

And so I'm aware that there can be thoughts and questions

emerging even now as I'm talking in your heart.

Well, let me direct you to a one hour message that we have on our

YouTube channel that speaks about in great detail what God

says about woman assuming the role of elder, pastor and

teaching the General Assembly in the church.

And I'm sure it will be helpful. And perhaps in the near future

we may have to even revisit that.

But see, this is what we can understand at this point.

It is completely appropriate for both men and women in informal

Bible studies and settings to be able to share insights and to be

able to express questions. The Bible even encourages women

to teach younger women how to be good and how to be faithful and

to disciple children. But when it comes to the church

gathering for corporate worship, Scripture clearly and undeniably

reserves the role of teaching for men.

And this is yet another example for us of how this series and

revelation is so applicable. Can I ask you something?

Are there fewer churches today promoting women to teach

congregations and pursue the role of pastor or more?

The reality is more and more are embracing this trend.

Mark my words. You listen carefully then,

unless the Lord comes and baptizes the wider church in the

fear of God again, to position the church, especially leaders,

to obey God in everything that he says, not what you like, what

He says, whether your flesh is comfortable with it or not.

Unless the Lord does that in this age, we are going to see a

greater attack on this mandate. And if you're a part of a church

like this one that honors and bows its knee to the authority

of God's Word, even in what he says for men and women in their

distinct roles in the church, prepare to be criticized.

Prepare to be slandered by who? The world.

I'm not concerned by the world. No, no even churches and

ministries that willfully dismiss this command.

But here's what we're learning. Why are we going through these

series, this series in the the seven churches in the Book of

Revelation? Because we want to know what

kind of church Christ wants and the church that Christ praises.

I'm not motivated one iota to be a ministry that popular

evangelicalism approves of. I'm not concerned about that.

I will stand before Jesus Christ, not before the popular

pastor Christ. And I want to stand before.

I'm faithful. And I hope you do as well.

Unfortunately, this church tolerated a woman who was

teaching with authority in the assembly.

But that's not the only thing. If teaching as a woman wasn't

disobedient enough, she aggravates her offense by what

she was teaching. Look here at the last part of

verse 20. Not just teaching, but seducing

My servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food

sacrificed to idols. This Jezebel, through her

teaching, was comforting and persuading other members, my

servants, Jesus says, to sin comfortably.

You know, some wonder, how was a woman able to climb and have

such influence in this congregation?

And there are some, though it's not explicitly clear, that that

believe that this woman was in fact one of the wives of the

elders, because the Greek word for a woman there is

interchangeable between woman as a gender and wife.

But that's not plain. Either way, what we want to

focus on is the essence of her doctrine.

What she was spewing out was that certain sins were

permissible, that you can engage and you can indulge in certain

ideas, this promotion, this illusion of freedom under the

guise of grace. And there's something about her

teaching, I believe, that I think makes it so compelling.

Scroll down to verse 24. Notice what the Lord says to

this remnant in the same church and we'll look at that in in a

moment here. But verse 24 says, But to the

rest of you and Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have

not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I

say, I do not lay on you any other burden.

Now the ESP has an interesting rendering of this verse in other

word for word translations like you know, the King James and the

new King James, the Lord is the one who identifies this teaching

as the deep things of Satan. So here in the ESP says what

others might call the deep things of Satan and those other

ones. Maybe you have it in your hand.

It's it's the Lord who's saying this is the deep things of

Satan. Either way, what Christ is

describing here can mean one of two things, or even really both.

First, whatever this woman was was conveying and communicating

was deeply disturbing and perverse.

But I can also mean this, that she was captivating an audience

because she claimed that she had deeper insights into spiritual

things. And this is something for us to

understand as well, because it's not about deeper things in the

Word of God. We should all long for that.

What I'm referring to is the unraveling of extra biblical

ideas on the basis of supposed prophetic authority.

So it could have been something like, let me tell you some of

the secrets to the spiritual realm.

Let me unpack for you basic baseless ideas of spiritual

dimensions and practices in the Scriptures that are, in fact not

in the Scriptures. Twisting truths, twisting

illustrations, twisting stories. In fact, maybe not even in the

Scriptures at all. Completely silent in the Bible.

Let me tell you some things that you don't know.

Let me exegete my personal visions and my dreams and my

encounters. They can't be validated.

Just take my word for it. I'm, I'm persuasive in my

speech, am I not? Don't, don't I look godly.

So let me tell you some things that I've experienced that are

applicable to you. Deep things, not deep things in

the Bible, deep things from your own experience, from your own

mind. You know, over the years as a

Christian, I've, I've been approached by people who have

invited me to listen to so and so because they're deep, OK.

And when I listen, I find out, yeah, they're deep.

They're in deep trouble because they're not saying anything

that's biblical. I'll never forget the time after

a few months, maybe close to a year of walking with the Lord, I

had somebody, we went to this conference and somebody

approached me. We got to know them a little

bit. He handed me a USB stick with

the series of teachings from this guy.

I don't even remember who the man was, but it was a series on

miracles, but unique miracles, miracles that you didn't think

you had access to. And there was more than one

sermon on how Christians have the ability on demand to

teleport, teleportation. And this man plucked a couple of

examples of how the Lord has done this.

But no, no, it wasn't how the Lord can do it.

It's how you can do it. And here's the most shocking

part, listening to this in the car with a friend.

And the worst part is you had people in the live audience

recorded, wow, literally saying wow, wow, wow.

What do you think this man got the confidence to speak in this

way? Think it was from the Bible?

No, no, no, no. It was 45 minutes of let me tell

you how it happened to me, how I went from here to here, how I

went from this country to this country, how I elevate into

heavenly realms and dimensions. You know you can do that too if

you have enough faith, deep things.

And this church was tolerating it.

I want you to be careful because ideas like this are gaining more

and more popularity. Thousands and hundreds of

thousands of views. I even just yesterday, last

night, I thought, let me just look this stuff up and I looked

it up and there hundreds of thousands of views.

I could barely stomach what was being said.

And they would pan into the audience and people, wow, they

don't know their Bibles. There's no way.

And you had a church here who loved this teaching.

Christ did not. And we see here his

righteousness, his zeal. You know, listen.

As much as love is important, faithfulness is important,

service is important, patient endurance is important.

You know what we learn from this?

Teaching is important to Jesus. It may not be important to you,

but it's important to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he wants the church to partner with his heart.

And so he demonstrates his zeal for pure truth.

But listen, His passion for holiness is beautifully followed

by His incredible grace in the following verse.

So we look at verse 20. Now look at verse 21.

I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her

sexual immorality. You know what this means?

This is not the first time that this woman was confronted for

her error. I gave her time to repent,

implying she was confronted before, perhaps by faithful

Christians in the congregation, maybe directly by the conviction

of the Holy Spirit. We aren't sure what is certain,

though this is not the first time the Lord is dealing with

her. Relish in the brilliance and the

beauty, the astounding patience of Jesus Christ.

He doesn't just give us opportunities to repent.

He gives you time to repent when it's not your initial response

to His invitation. Look how steadfast He is and

calm He is. I gave her time and you and I

have to understand that. When we look out and see false

teachers today receiving millions, even billions of

donations packing stadiums, I've thought this, Lord, why aren't

you stopping them? Why are they growing in their

reach and in their influence? And I learned something from

this letter. He's giving them time to repent.

He's giving the time to repent. And it could very well be before

there is a public scandal with somebody who is not truly a

messenger of God. They were private convictions,

confrontations, the Lord dealing with them in their hearts,

allowing people to come into their lives and speak into their

lives. And unfortunately, do many do

what this woman did with every opportunity received, she

refused to repent. Have you ever wondered, just in

a general sense, why do people refuse to repent?

I mean, if the gospel is preached faithfully, if it's

really given as good news, why do people swat it away?

Why do they deny it? I believe in many cases for the

same reason this woman did. They love their sin.

Notice again verse 21, I gave her time to repent, but she

refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

The reason why she didn't want to turn to the Lord is because

she didn't want to give up her lusts.

And here's something to consider.

It's very possible that her influence in this church

provided personal opportunities to indulge in her lusts.

Did you know that what are the marks of a false teacher is that

they are ravishedly driven by sexual impulses, and they'll use

the persuasiveness, their personality, they'll use their

leadership abilities to satiate those sexual desires.

Here's a mark of a false teacher according to Peter and second

2 Peter 2:14

Peter 2:14, They have eyes full of the adultery.

This is in the context of false teachers.

And what does he say? They have eyes full.

They're leaking in their desire, in their pursuit of other people

to gratify their flesh, their predators.

And not just that, he says they have eyes full of adultery,

insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls.

They have hearts trained and greed accursed children.

Who do false teachers attract? Unsteady souls.

You know what is 1 sure way of being an unsteady soul?

Not being filled with the word of God, being tossed this way

and that way. The newest thing the the the

more handsome preacher, the more beautiful, the more deep.

That's how people are are taken captive.

How do these false teachers thrive?

How is it that they're so successful because they have so

many customers. If you didn't have the

customers, you wouldn't have the platform.

I was listening to an interview the other day of somebody who

went out into Mexico and spoke with one of the cartels, and the

cartel admittedly said most of our consumers are in the United

States. If we didn't have consumers, we

would be out of business. How true it is.

Even with false teachers, it's people wanting this and those

who are naive, those who are unsteady are frequently taken

captive. And this woman could very well

have been partnering sexually with people that she was

teaching. And as patient as the Lord is,

there is a limitation to it. And for this Jezebel, there were

no more chances left. So the only thing she can expect

from now on his judgement. And this is what we read next in

verse 22. Behold, I will throw her onto a

sick bed. And those who commit adultery

with her I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent

of her works, and I will strike her children dead.

A lot of these statements may not be surprising to us, but

there is something in this passage that I think would make

many professing Christians uncomfortable.

I alluded to it earlier. Jesus Christ, even the New

Testament, makes His glory and His reality known.

Yes in His goodness, Yes in His grace.

Yes in His forgiveness. Yes in his healing power.

But can Ioffer you another dimension by real time

manifestations of judgement? Are we in Exodus or are we in

the New Testament? We're in the Book of Revelation

and Jesus Christ says that He will make Himself known to the

wider church. What does he say?

How is He going to make all the churches know that He is the one

who searches mind and heart? Pause.

He searches mind and heart. That is an attribute that solely

and exclusively belongs to Yahweh in the Old Testament.

Many, many Old Testament passages say the Lord who

searches mind and heart. What is Christ claiming here?

I'm God, but what is one of the ways that He shows Himself to be

the living God to His people? Well, in this case, by striking

a false prophet with a sickness, by altering the lives of those

who work with her, and by ending the lives of her children.

Some debate. Is this her actual children or

spiritual children? Either way, it's not good.

So this is something for us to understand.

Yes, the God of the New Testament, from time to time, He

affirms His Holiness, He affirms His power, He affirms his

presence. By doing what?

Shaking a church that tolerates sin in such an undeniable way

that other churches would realize and be reminded of the

holiness of Jesus Christ, is that it?

No, Christ has a message not just for Jezebel and her

disciples. Look here at verse 24.

But to the rest of you and thy Tyra, do not hold this teaching

who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan.

To you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.

Isn't it shocking you had real Christians in this church?

You know what I thought? Why are you still at that

church? I'll tell you why.

Because they didn't have many options in that time.

And that day they didn't have the luxury of picking up and

saying we're going to the church down the street.

There are many obstacles to that and again, very limited options.

So they had no other choice. This was their church in

Thyatira. This is where they went.

This is where they could, to the best of their ability, obey what

Jesus said and what the word of God says and not to forsake the

assembling of the Saints. And so the Lord now turns his

attention to these Christians who are enduring this.

You can imagine the debates over fellowship.

You can imagine the confrontation.

You can imagine the atmosphere in that place.

And he tells this remnant in this church, I want to encourage

you. I do not lay on you any other

burden. Only hold fast what you have

until I come. I got to tell you, it was like a

splash of cold water on my face when I meditated on this

passage. It should move you to the core

because this is something about the leadership of Jesus Christ

towards the faithful. I'm sure you're aware of

Christians who really want to please God, like they really

want to honor God, but they have no rest in that pursuit.

In fact, they're always burdened.

They they always scrutinize their sanctification.

They're running on fumes. They're always thinking, what

else can I do, what more can I do in order to make God proud?

That's how they live. They're miserable.

And though Jesus is very much concerned about our growth, we

just heard about it. I see that your works are

excelling. Your latter works are excelling

more than your former. Yes, He wants us to grow in

these things. It is possible to walk in such a

manner. Listen to this.

It is possible to so Orient your life that Christ will look at

you and all He has to say is just keep going.

Just keep going. Yes.

Are the times where you'll be convicted because of your

limited fellowship of the Lord? Yes, yes.

Will you hear a message from time to time that will ask of

you more faithfulness and service to ministry?

Sure. But you know what?

The Lord is not interested in piling on you unrealistic duties

and demands. His commandments are not

burdensome and so it's possible to so again, align yourself to

the truth of God's word and your life, your convictions, your

priorities where all Christ can say keep going.

You're right in the center of my will and all I asked you to do

is remain there. Isn't that refreshing that

refreshed me and understanding the mercy and the beauty of

Jesus shepherding should empower you should give you life.

He's not there looking. Oh, you're doing all that I'm

asking. You know what, let me try.

You know there are people like let me let me find something

else for you to do because I just don't want you to be there.

No, no, no, he's not like that. Keep going.

Keep doing what you're doing as much as his grace is something

that should energize as there's something else.

Look at the end of verse 25. Only hold fast what you have

until I come, until I come. What is the Lord doing here?

He is placing before these faithful believers the reality

of His second coming in order for them to be more faithful, to

remain faithful, to remain steadfast.

In other words, Jesus Christ uses the truth of His return to

keep His people ready, robust, remaining, abiding,

withstanding. How much do you think about

Jesus coming back? If we want to be a healthy

church, from what I learned here, I think we should talk

about it a lot. I think it should be in our

conversation. I think we should say it

frequently. You know the Lord is coming

back. It puts everything into

perspective. It lightens the load.

It helps you to endure even when there is problems in your

church. Oh, this isn't the end of it.

Thank God this is in heaven. As heavenly as these meetings

can be, this is not heaven. Christ is coming back.

Christ is coming back. And listen, we've been studying

churches, have we not? And we as a church want to be

the church Christ wants us to be.

But let's be realistic because the Bible is realistic.

What does Jesus say earlier? He says that I will give to you.

Look at the end of verse 23. I will give to each of you

according to your works. So as much as he's evaluating

the church at large, every single one of us will have a

personal report card. Listen.

Which is relieving for many of us, I hope, especially for

leaders. Because leaders can only say so

much. They can only counsel so much.

They they can only put on events to formulate fellowship.

There's only so much that a leader can do.

In the end, we all have to take personal responsibility.

Oh, you went to Maranatha Bible Church?

Yeah. OK.

Well, I'm going to judge the pastors, But what did you do

with all the sermons you heard? And what did you do with the

opportunities ever given to you? So none of us can hide behind

Daniel Ben or Mark Griffin or whatever church you might be

representing here as you're visiting.

And we can't hide behind anybody else either.

We can't point to the congregation.

Now, I as much as I'm evaluating the church, I'm going to give to

each of you according to your works.

Now what does the Lord do? We're wrapping things up.

He's not finished motivating the remnant.

He even wants to motivate those who are enjoying this false

teaching. Verse 26, He says the one who

conquers and who keeps my works until the end.

To him I will give authority over the nation's prize, number

one prize #2 verse 27. And He will rule them with a rod

of iron, as when earth and pots are broken in pieces, even as I

myself have received authority from the My Father prize #3

verse 28. And I will give him the morning

star. Let's break these down.

The first two I get. I think most of us would

understand. The only way these rewards make

sense is if you believe in a literal millennial reign of

Christ. Or else what does it mean that

He will give authority over nations to us?

What nations? What are we talking about now?

No, not now. What about ruling them with a

wrought iron? Now, is this symbolic?

Is this allegorical? If you're honest with your

interpretation of the Scriptures, this is literal.

And it can only fit in one segment of redemptive history,

when Jesus Christ returns to rule and reign from Jerusalem.

And what we learn here is based on our faithfulness, we'll

determine the extent of our reward, our governing rewards.

Christians are going to have some interesting things to do in

the millennial reign, and here's what we learned from this.

If you're faithful with my word, if you're faithful with your

judgments based on my word, if you're able to discern between

right and wrong and even confront wrong, then I'm willing

to promote you in my Kingdom to execute judgment, to make

decisions. And so you're going to have some

who are going to do what they are going to have authority over

certain regions, and some we're going to share in Christ

authority to execute judgment in the millennial reign.

It's the last one that perhaps is the most mysterious.

What does it mean by saying I will give him the morning star?

That's interesting. And all these ideas you can

imagine the speculations if you just honor the context.

I think you have your answer. Does this idea of bright morning

star appear in the Book of Revelation?

Yes. Turn to in Revelation 22.

There's where you get your answer.

Revelation 22, verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my Angel to

Revelation 22:16

testify to you about these things for the churches.

I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning

star. So what is Jesus saying back in

Revelation 2? I'm going to give you myself.

I'm going to give you access to a fellowship with me that will

be rich, that will be real, that will be unique because you pay

the price of staying true to my word.

You did not tolerate compromise in your life or in the church.

And here's how we can translate this to our context.

You might even be sitting here today, and I'm closing in a

moment here. You might be sitting here today

and you have been branded as legalistic, not because you're

legalistic and somebody saying, hey, you're putting more into

the Scriptures that needs to be there.

No, because you love the Bible from family, from friends, from

even other ministers who think you're too rigid with the Word

of God, when in fact it's clear the Bible says this about men

and this about women. You might be in doing even loss

of fellowship and partnership and ministry because of what you

believe in. Because you will not tolerate

compromise no matter how it looks.

Here's what Christ says to you. You will secure a friendship

with me. You will win a friendship with

me. And how appropriate is this

message for us, especially with our cultural climate?

As someone once said, today, compromising tolerance is seen

as a virtue. The more tolerant you are, the

more up to date you are with society and with philosophy and

with ideology. In fact, the same individual

followed it with this disagreement with evil and

ideologies and beliefs and behaviors that are sinful.

Disagreement now is generally understood as phobia.

You're homophobic, you're transphobic, you're

Islamophobic. If you disagree with it, then

you're labeled as crazy or you have an irrational fear.

So what does Jesus say? Label them how you want to label

them. I'm going to give them the

bright morning star. I'm going to give them myself.

You may not have that promotion. You may not get more invitations

to preach at certain places, but you'll have me.

Isn't that the greatest reward? Well, how are we going to answer

people? Say, what did you hear from

Mother's Day at church? I heard about Jezebel.

Let me end it in this way. I find it so heartwarming that

Thyatira is not only mentioned in this context.

There is only one other place in all of the Bible where we find

the name Thyatira. Who knows it?

It's in Acts 16. Let's turn there.

And this is where we'll end. Yes, we've been looking at

Jezebel, but I want to bring to your attention another, another

woman from Thyatira. And this is when Paul and his

missionary team were in Phillip High, and they met a woman named

Lydia. Acts 1613.

Let's read together as we wrap things up.

I may say that a couple more times.

And on the Sabbath day, we went outside.

This is Acts 1613. We went outside the gate to the

Riverside, where we suppose there was a place of prayer, and

we sat down and spoke to the woman who had come together.

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of

Thyatira, a seller of purple goods who was a worshipper of

God. The Lord opened her heart to pay

attention to what was said by Paul.

Let's pause here. So Paul's in Philippi, and what

was Paul's strategy whenever he went to a city?

Where's the nearest synagogue where the Jews?

Apparently there weren't many Jews in Philippi because on the

Sabbath they had to meet by the Riverside.

There was no synagogue. And so Paul hears about this.

So he goes. There he goes.

I hope we can find some Jews. And when he arrives with his

team, they encounter a band of women.

And we learned one of their names, Lijia, and she is a

businesswoman. Fact.

This is a little hint that showcases the historical

accuracy of the Bible. She was a seller of purple

goods. Thy Tara manufactured dyes and

purple was the color of royalty. It was very expensive.

So she wasn't just in business. She she was in luxurious

business. She was up there.

And here's what moves me about Lydia.

And this is for all of us here, both men and women who are

ambitious, who are entrepreneurs, who want to make

a living and to be successful at it.

Notice that her business did not corrupt her worship.

Notice that her endeavors, notice that her plans, notice

that her job did not take her away from adoring God.

So she's here in Philippi and she goes, we got to worship God.

It's a Sabbath. So she believed in the God of

Israel. She didn't encounter the truth

of Christ yet, but she is she's a seeker and she wants to honor

the Lord. And so she she hears about a

prayer meeting and she says, you know what, we're going to go to

this prayer meeting. It's amazing how God blesses

obedience, even if your obedience is limited because of

limited revelation. So she comes in and she makes

her way there. And we learned that Paul meets

her. The Lord does a work on her

heart, opens it so that she can hear what Paul has to say.

And notice what happens here at verse 15.

And after she was baptized and her household as well, so we

don't know the exact chronology here, but she's with these band

of women. They meet Paul and his

missionary team. They hear the gospel.

And guess what? She couldn't keep it to herself.

She goes home and tells people about Jesus and they come to

Christ. Now they get baptized.

And it doesn't end there. She urged us, saying, if you

have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and

stay. And she prevailed upon us.

So she showed fruit of true salvation that she wanted to

serve and the way that she can serve with the opportunity

before was to host this missionary team.

She says please, please, please let me be hospitable to you.

What a contrast to Jezebel from Thyatira.

What humility, what grace, what priorities, what devotion to the

Lord. And though it may be true that

there are Jezebel's roaming in our churches and they're

multiplying, and with that there is the tolerance of Jezebel that

is multiplying, there are Lydias in churches as well.

And I stepping back this morning, going over some of

these things, prepared to preach today, was thanking God that

this church is filled with Lydias.

May the Lord protect you as you serve him and honor and with

your life. And May God reproduce Lydias for

his glory. Let's pray.

We've heard your voice today, Lord, and we want to be a church

that accepts the right things and rejects that which you

reject. Protect us from compromise.

We even ask, oh God, that this church would not be a mixed

breed, some who follow you and some who follow strange

teachings, some who pursue holiness and others who don't

care about it. Lord, may we be as a unit, as a

family, one in the same. So even now, Lord, wash over us

these truths with such force that we would all leave here

with a oneness of mind and affection and ambition to be an

uncompromising church in our lives personally and as an

assembly. Protect this pulpit in Jesus

name. Protect our ears.

Help us have discernment when people put things into our hands

or send us links. Help us more than anything else,

devour this word so that we can create that shield in our

hearts. We we know, Lord, we're reminded

how much truth matters to you, because it's your truth.

It's your voice, it's your word, it's your instruction.

We want to honor every part of it.

And even Lord, if there's one person here who might have been

disturbed by what was said, may they have enough integrity to at

least look at the Bible and see what the Bible has to say.

May all personal or human interpretation or opinions be

crushed under the weight of your authority and may we know true

freedom as we abide by your word.

We give you thanks for speaking to our hearts.

Again. In Jesus name we pray, Amen,

Amen, Amen. Church, let's stand, let's give

Jesus Christ all the glory for speaking to our hearts through

this book.